In Times of Need
by FromTheCouncilOfTimeWizards
Summary: Morgana has an army. A big one. Camelot's chances are practically nonexistent. But that's because its king doesn't know he has a dragonlord on his side. But Merlin's decided it's time that changed.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I don't own Merlin, as I'm sure you've guessed. **

**So. Umm. **

**I am aware that I am already working on 3 different fics. However, I did promise that I would get around to writing this. And I was getting a little writer's block on my other fics. So, here's this. **

The mood over the castle was grim.

Arthur stood by his window, surveying his subdued kingdom. Word had traveled. Word always traveled...

Even those who had not been present at the council meeting knew of Morgana's newly recruited army that was preparing to march on Camelot. They knew it was huge, the biggest one to be seen in all the kingdoms for a long time. They knew the king planned to fight it, but his knights were vastly outnumbered.

Though they did not know the more sobering details. They did not know that about a third of the army was comprised of sorcerers. They did not know that, according to the reports, Morgana had even captured a small pack of wyverns, which she planned to set on her former home. They didn't know that the mercenaries had built catapults, with which they would bombard the citadel.

Arthur knew all these things. They would not let his mind be as he stared out over the courtyard. He remembered, quite clearly, the grim conversation these facts had sparked.

_"Sire, we stand little chance against the army. Morgana's soldiers are numberless. She has obviously gone to great lengths to take the kingdom," Leon reported, some of his apprehension leaking into his voice. _

_Arthur rested his chin on his hands, thinking. _

_"Sire, we cannot hope to win-" one of the noblemen began. _

_"What are you suggesting? That we give up?" Gwaine said sharply. _

_Arthur gave him a look that silently discouraged his slightly sharp tone, but nonetheless agreed. _

_"Sir Gwaine is right. If Camelot falls to Morgana, it will not fall without a fight."_

_The knights at the round table held their heads high, silently agreeing that they would fight to their last breath._

He was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of the door creaking open.

"What do you want, Merlin?" he said quietly without moving. He wasn't sure if he was glad for the company or not.

"I...um, well..." At Merlin's stutter, Arthur turned around. His servant was standing awkwardly in the middle of his chambers.

"Spit it out, Merlin," the king said dully.

Merlin took a deep, shaky breath. "You're going to fight, aren't you?"

Arthur rubbed his head, not quite sure what was going through his manservant's head. "Yes, of course, Merlin. If this is you trying to convince me otherwise-"

"No, no, I think you should fight."

Arthur raised an eyebrow, surprised. Usually Merlin was the one trying to convince him to do the safe thing, protect himself.

"Really? And why is that?"

Merlin swallowed. "I...I can help."

As he had expected, the king scoffed. "Merlin, I hardly think there's anything you can do-"

"That's because you don't know what I do."

Arthur stared, growing slightly uneasy. Merlin had a steely look in his eye, one he hadn't seen often. He had a feeling Merlin was planning something. Knowing Merlin it would either be unexpectedly genius, like his random spurts of wisdom, or completely insane to attempt.

"And what would that be?" the king said testily.

His servant appeared to be struggling with himself, but at Arthur's question he straightened and delivered his answer without hesitation, if a little shakily.

"I have...a skill that I neglected to inform you of before because...frankly, it would have been a little risky. But it will come in useful, if you will allow me to help you fight against Morgana."

Arthur's confusion grew. Merlin? Skills?

"Merlin, what are you on about?" he said impatiently.

Merlin looked him in the eye. "Arthur...I'madragonlord."

He blurted the words out nervously, and once he'd said them he stood, frozen and wide-eyed, waiting for a response.

The response was incredulity.

"Dragonlord? Don't be ridiculous, Merlin, the last one died, remember?"

Surprisingly, this made Merlin flinch. Arthur frowned.

"Merlin, you can't be serious...?"

But it appeared that Merlin was, in fact, serious. He swallowed again, and then spoke.

"The...abilities of dragonlords are inherited...once the father has died."

"What-"

Arthur fell silent as the meaning of that statement washed over him. His eyes widened.

"Balinor," he breathed. "He was..."

Merlin nodded, his eyes fixed on the ground.

Arthur was simply dumbfounded. Yet it made sense - Merlin had seemed so upset when the dragonlord had died. Arthur hadn't understood at the time.

"Gods, Merlin. I'm sorry," he whispered, remembering his insensitive words at the time.

"It's fine," Merlin said in a small voice.

Arthur marveled at how he could say that. Dealing with the death of his own father had been hard enough. But not being able to mourn him...

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Merlin didn't answer.

"It was my father, wasn't it?" As much as it pained Arthur to admit it, he suspected Uther would not have taken it well had he learned that a dragonlord, who had abilities that bordered on magical, had a son living in Camelot.

"I didn't think you would appreciate keeping things from him," Merlin mumbled.

Despite knowing this was true, the king felt a spark of annoyance, though he knew it was unfair.

"And only telling me this now?"

Merlin flinched. "Sorry."

It was tense. Arthur, still reeling from this revelation, cast around for something to say.

"Why _are_ you telling me this now?"

Merlin looked relieved. "Morgana has wyverns, right? They're close enough to dragons that I can force them not to attack, even turn them against her."

Arthur considered this. "That will certainly help, but I doubt it will be enough to win us the battle."

Now Merlin looked even more nervous. "And...erm...there is something else."

Arthur felt apprehensive again at the look on Merlin's face. It was his expression that meant 'I'm going to tell you something you won't like but try not to take my head off.'

"Well? What is it?"

Merlin took a deep breath, then spoke in a rush. "'Member how I told you you killed the great dragon?"

Arthur nodded slowly.

"I lied."

It was barely a whisper, and it was said with a slight tremble, but the king heard him clearly.

"_Excuse me_?"

"I lied," Merlin said loudly. "You did not kill the dragon. I banished it."

Arthur stared at him for a full ten seconds before exploding.

"YOU BANISHED IT?" he screeched. "It's a MONSTER, Merlin! Why did you let it live?"

Merlin, though obviously not enjoying Arthur's reaction, stubbornly refused to look ashamed.

"He was the last of his kind. He asked me not to make him 'responsible for the death of his breed'. Trust me, I thought about killing him. But I forbid him to return or to hurt anyone else. He could not have refused if he wanted to."

Arthur glared, grinding his teeth. Of course. How typically Merlin. Merlin wouldn't step on a bee if it stung him.

"Alright. And your point?"

Merlin smiled wryly. "I can call him back."

It took Arthur a moment to process this. Especially as he still hadn't adjusted to the thought of Merlin, of all people, having that much power. But when he did, his heart fluttered with a small amount of hope.

"You mean..."

Merlin nodded. "I can make him attack Morgana. Even the knights of Camelot could not hurt the dragon. If they were to be attacked by him, all their efforts would be focused on protecting themselves. And Gaius says even sorcerers aren't powerful enough to do any real damage to it."

Arthur began to pace, his hope growing.

"And you're sure you can do this?"

Merlin nodded.

Arthur sighed. "All right. We'll give it a try...not that we have much choice."

And without another word, we walked over and flopped down on his desk, his mind still reeling with the conversation he'd just had.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Merlin was not mine yesterday, and it was not mine today. **

**Yeah. So...instead of updating my other stories, like I should, I wrote another chapter for this. So you guys better like it. **

"Would you like to meet him first?"

Arthur opened his eyes. He'd been lying on his bed, digesting what he'd just learned. The strangest bit was, it wasn't necessarily the fact that Merlin was a _dragonlord_, specifically, that was weird, it was the idea of Merlin being powerful. The idea of his clumsy, sarcastic, sometimes incompetent manservant possessing that much power was like trying to imagine a sober Gwaine, or a young Gaius.

"Sorry, what?"

"Would you like to come with me? I was going to go summon the dragon, tell him what I need him to do and...y'know," Merlin trailed off awkwardly.

Meet the dragon who had once tried to fry him to a crisp?

"Sure." For the sake of Camelot, he'd try to refrain from sticking his sword in the creature.

0o0

Merlin was used to sneaking past the guards. Which was why it was strange for Arthur to just approach the guards and explain he was on urgent business. The guards let him through, hiding their confusion.

After they walked through the gates, however, Arthur had no clue where they were going. Where were they going to talk to a dragon unseen?

"Um, Merlin? Where are we going to go where we won't be noticed talking to a dragon? If my memory is correct, it's fairly big."

"I know where," Merlin said.

He lead Arthur to the clearing where they'd fought the dragon before it was 'slayed by Arthur'. When they reached the center, Merlin looked sideways at Arthur.

"You ready?"

"Yes," Arthur said stubbornly, trying not to show that he was nervous, despite Merlin's assurances that the dragon had no choice to obey him. Although, looking at Merlin's slight figure standing in the clearing, the king didn't see what was stopping the dragon from toasting his manservant as soon as it arrived.

He was distracted by Merlin tilting his head upward. He opened his mouth, and out came what Arthur could only describe as a roar. It took him a moment to realize Merlin was saying words - gibberish words that had no meaning to Arthur, but still words. Merlin's voice was no longer light and joking, but deeper, and full of power. It was strange, but it did not seem out of place coming from Merlin - in fact, it made the servant seem taller, less weak than Arthur was used to. For the first time, Arthur could truly believe that Merlin was a dragonlord.

The king realized his mouth was hanging open and quickly closed it. Merlin closed his mouth as well and turned casually to his master.

"He'll be here soon," he said, appearing not to care that he had just summoned a deadly creature from who knew had far away.

Sure enough, within minutes, Arthur heard the sound of a giant pair of wings flapping. He looked up, trying to hide his alarm, and saw the dragon coming nearer.

His immediate reaction was anger, remembering the fire that had poured out of the dragon's mouth, torching houses and crippling structures. But he pushed it away. He had a chance to save Camelot, and he would take it. Although, he registered somewhere in the back of his mind how ironic it was that the same creature that had nearly destroyed his kingdom was now returning to save it.

The huge beast landed. If it was possible for dragons to look surprised, Arthur could have sworn this one did. It surveyed the knight, as though evaluating him. The king tried to pretend this didn't disconcert him slightly.

"Merlin." A voice boomed out of nowhere. It took a moment for Arthur to realize the dragon's mouth had moved, and he had inclined his head in Merlin's direction in apparent greeting.

"It can talk?" he blurted to Merlin before he could stop himself.

A loud rumbling sound filled the air, and Arthur realized it was chuckling.

"Yes, young Pendragon. I do, in fact, talk. I take it you have come to realize some things recently?"

It's voice was tinged with amusement. Amusement that it had known something the king didn't.

And suddenly, Arthur was furious. The dragon could talk. It clearly was a sentient, intelligent being. To be honest, Arthur had previously thought it was just another stupid beast whose instincts drove it to attack, if a considerably more dangerous one than most. But now, Arthur could see that the thing would have known what it was doing. It made a conscious decision to attack Camelot. It was not just part of its beastly nature. It did not react out of fear, for surely it had realized that Camelot had no weapons that could hurt it. It had attacked because it wanted to.  
Suddenly, allying himself with the dragon felt considerably less appealing.

"Yeah, I guess I have," he said coldly.

The dragon did not seemed surprised nor perturbed by the king's aggression.

"Yes, I decided to tell Arthur about me being a dragonlord," Merlin said blandly. Their eyes met, and Arthur got the feeling they were communicating silently. It did not help his irritation.

"Why have you called me?" the dragon said, rather hastily.

"Ah, yes. Morgana's attacking Camelot. She'll probably be on us by tomorrow. She's got a huge army, Kilgarrah. We could really use some help."

"Ah, yes. I heard she was recruiting. I can do some damage, but I cannot do it all by myself, Merlin."

"I know," Merlin said quickly. "We'll be fighting as well."

The dragon - Kilgarrah, or whatever Merlin had called it - bowed his head. "I will do what I can."

"Thank you," Merlin said.

The dragon's eyes swiveled to where Arthur was standing, watching the scene. "And you agreed to this, Arthur?"

Arthur met its gaze coldly. "I don't like it, but it's the only way. But after this, you will leave, and never come back to Camelot where you cannot hurt anyone else."

"I do not plan to," Kilgarrah said smoothly.

Arthur glared. "Really? Well, you could have fooled me."

For the first time, the dragon started to show signs of irritation. He lowered it's head to better look Arthur in the eye.

"You try being trapped somewhere for twenty years, the rest of your family, your kin slaughtered needlessly, knowing you are the last and being stuck in an inescapable dungeon, and tell me you don't want to do anything to the person responsible."

When Arthur didn't respond immediately, Kilgarrah turned back to Merlin.

"I will be there when Morgana attacks."

And, without another word, the dragon reared, wings stretched, and flew off, his figure soon swallowed by the darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Merlin is like my iPad...I don't have an iPad. **

**Yes, yes, I know this chapter is short. But I realized how long it had been since I updated this (I've been caught up in ****_To Break A Curse_****) so here's this. I've been kind of busy of late, but I will try to keep updating. **

Arthur sighed. He'd been staring at the top of the canopy over his bed for hours now, as though hoping it could provide him with answers. It hadn't.

It was dark, and he was exhausted. It had been hours since he and Merlin had returned to the castle after their conversation with the dragon. He'd been hoping to get some sleep. However, his mind felt the need to make him anxious about Morgana's attack and raise questions that made it rather difficult to drift off.

What if the plan didn't work? What if a dragon on their side wasn't enough?

But Merlin had said that even magic didn't work against dragons, at least, not individually. If Morgana's sorcerers were able to defeat the dragon, it would require most of their concentration and energy. And Arthur remembered all to well the damage the beast could do, even with an army against it.

What would happen after the battle? What would he do with Merlin?

He was sure their would be some of the nobles on the council, the remnants of Uther's supporters, who would call for his execution, claiming the gift of the dragonlord was too close to sorcery. But surely, others would see sense? Merlin hadn't had a choice in the matter, he couldn't punish him for something out of his control. Not to mention, he had saved Camelot(that was, if they could win the fight). Surely that must count for something. And if not...well, Arthur was the king. He would make sure it did.

Had the dragon had been right to hate his father?

That question had been irritating him the most. He kept trying to shove it to the side, but it kept resurfacing. He'd always known his father could be a little, well...harsh. He hadn't always agreed with Uther's decisions. Would he have locked a dragon up for twenty years, keeping almost as a pet, but less cared for, a sentient being that was aware it was the last of his kind?

No. He didn't think he could do that.

He wasn't conceding that Kilgarrah had the right to attack Camelot. Too many innocent people had been hurt. But to want revenge...it was such a human instinct, but it only showed, once again, that the being was sentient, and had been aware, during those years, that someone had wronged him.  
Wronged. Years ago, if someone had told him he would be thinking a dragon could have been wronged, he would have scoffed. But now...

He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his palms. Morgana's impending attack seemed to loom over him once again.

_Sleep_, he told himself firmly, _and worry about morals and dragons later._

The mood around the castle was tense when he woke. The citadel had been barricaded and evacuated, and the absence of the usual bustle of the city, replaced instead with an eery silence, was alone enough to fray the nerves of the knights as they geared up for battle.

Arthur, already wearing his armor, put on him by Merlin, watched his knights prepare for battle, their laughs a little more boistrous than usual, their tones overly joking. It was their way of hiding nerves.  
They had no idea, yet, that all hope was not lost. Arthur cleared his throat pointedly. Slowly, the knights fell silent.

"I'm sure you are all assuming," he began, "that, despite our efforts, the witch, Morgana, will take the kingdom. That there is no hope." He paused. "And I am telling you now, this is not true."

The knights exchanged confused glances. Was this some strange kind of pep talk? Arthur usually gave them, but he never said anything like this. Never gave them false hope.

"As of last night, a matter came to my attention. It's...rather complicated, and I will not explain it to you now. But I can tell you that we have a secret weapon, which we will be able to use against Morgana and her army."

Muttering broke out among the warriors, curious and interested about this 'secret weapon'.

"Sire," Gwaine said hesitantly, "may I inquire about the nature of this 'secret weapon'?"

Arthur gave a wry smile. "Let's just say that Morgana will definitely not be expecting it."

"Sire!"

One of guards burst into the armory.

"Morgana's army has been spotted. She is almost upon us."

Arthur straightened. "Thank you."

He turned back to his army, which was now looking more determined, more spirited.

"For Camelot!" He roared, holding his sword high.

The knights chorused the same, following their king out onto the battlefield.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Me no own Merlin. **

**So this is the chapter with the action. I haven't written much action before, so I hope you like it. Merlin does get hurt at the end, but I'm not going to drag out his recovery or anything. In fact, this will probably only last a few more chapters. **

It was like one of Arthur's old nightmares.

Morgana's army was the biggest he'd ever seen. Whether she'd somehow paid everyone off or bewitched them or promised them a share of the spoils, he wasn't sure. He could tell which ones were sorcerers, they were not wearing armor like the others and had no weapons that they could see, but Arthur knew their words and minds were weapons enough to do serious damage. At the back, Morgana stood between wyverns, her eyes glowing gold whenever they showed signs of disobeying her, and they whined in irritation.

Behind him, Merlin was examining the wyvern pack. They weren't in great shape, considering Morgana had kept them constantly enchanted to her will. Fortunately, a dragonlord's command would override all such enchantments.

The tension was almost palpable. The knights stood their ground, facing the enemy, but every now and then they would shoot covert looks around the scene, looking for a sign of the advantage their king had promised them.

Morgana walked to the front of her army, smirking her favorite smirk at her half-brother.

"Are you still planning to go against me, brother? It would be so much less painful for you just to surrender now."

Arthur held his head high, meeting her gaze. "I will never surrender to you, Morgana."

"Very well." She did not look very disappointed. "Then the blood that is about to be spilled is on your hands, Arthur Pendragon."

She gave the signal.

The army charged, and so did Camelot's, yelling out battle cries. Gwaine and Percival were about to attack when two wyverns landed in front of them, hissing and screeching. The two knights looked at each other, ready to go down fighting, but then a smaller figure ran in front of them.

Gwaine felt terror grip him as he realized it was Merlin. What the hell was the servant doing here?! He looked at Percival and saw his shock reflected in his friend's face. They charged forward, determined to keep Merlin safe.

But then, Merlin, looking calm, opened his mouth and yelled a string of words that made no sense whatsoever to the knights. And they felt their mouths drop open as the scaly beasts backed down and knelt into what was unmistakably a bow to Merlin.

He looked back at them and grinned at their dumbstruck expressions. Then he turned to the creatures and said something else, but much louder, so that all the wyverns in the fight could hear.

Abruptly, all of them stopped their attacks, turned, and began assaulting Morgana's army. Sorcerers yelped in alarm as the beasts rained down blows with their teeth and claws. They threw spells at them, but they did little damage.

Everyone looked around, trying to find the source of this sudden change. They finally turned their gaze on Merlin when they realized he was direction the wyverns like a senior knight direction troops. Then, trying to ignore all the eyes he felt on him, he opened his mouth and out came a sound no one would ever have expected to come out of the servant's mouth.

In response, the was suddenly a ground-shaking roar. Many of Camelot's knights froze, having heard the sound before. The sound of huge wings flapping echoed around them, and Kilgarrah dove from the skies, mouth opening and fire spilling out.

The Camelotian knights waited for the beast to turn its fire on them, but instead it roared and continued its destruction of Morgana's army. Her sorcerers had begun to sweat from the effort of blocking the brunt of the dragon's heat, but the rest were not so lucky. Their meticulously constructed war machines went up in flames, and the non-magical warriors had no protection, their armor only serving to scorch their skin.

"NO!" Morgana's high scream was almost lost in Kilgarrah's roars. Some of her fighters turned and ran flat-out away from the battle. The remainders either fell prey to the great dragon or the knights of Camelot.

She could see that they were loosing, but she was still desperately trying to fight. Her eyes honed in on Merlin, the source of the problem, and her eyes glowed gold. The servant see anything, he was too busy.

The dark spell hit him full in the stomach, and he flew back, crumpling onto the stone.

If she had watched longer, she would have heard the cry of alarm from Arthur. She would have seen the knights that were no longer occupied with her army, which was now outnumbered, rush to his side, and Gwaine frantically check for a pulse. However, she saw none of this, because the moment her spell exploded against Merlin's torso, the dragon stopped his bombardment of the sorcerers and turned on her. She suddenly found her vision full of its mouth, sharp teeth bared at her. But she knew they were the least of her problems as the mouth opened, and she barely had time to scream "_Scildan_!" before the flames were spewed in her direction.

When they finally subsided, so had her resolve. Reluctantly accepting her defeat, she called for her army to retreat, yelling "This isn't over!" over her shoulder as she left.

Arthur barely noticed Morgana's yell of defeat. He was more focused on the limp figure on the ground, smoke trailing from his chest still. He saw Gwaine kneel and search, slightly panicky, for signs of life.

When the knight's face flooded relief, he let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I don't know why you would think I do, but I don't own Merlin. **

**I just want to tell you all that if I ever take a long time to update, feel free to yell at me :P **

**This is probably only going to be a few more chapters longer, 'cause I didn't plan much more after this. The story is mostly finished. This is sorta wrapping it up. **

Arthur didn't even wait for the last stragglers of Morgana's army to leave. He helped Gwaine carry Merlin to where Gaius had set up camp, taking in all the injured knights. He was treating a knight with a gash on his arm when they dragged his ward in.

"Lay him here," the physician instructed. "What happened?"

"Morgana," Gwaine spat. "Some sort of spell."

Gaius gently removed Merlin's tattered shirt. He heard Gwaine suck in a breath. There was a large, black, smoldering splotch covering a good portion of Merlin's flesh.

"Will he be alright?" Arthur said hoarsely.

Gaius answered, looking grim. "I think so. It's just a flesh wound, if a large one. As long as nothing important was damaged, he should be fine. It will scar, though, and he will need lots off rest if he is to recover."

Gwaine clenched his teeth. "Morgana got off easy."

Arthur privately agreed.

0o0

The following morning saw all the knights and guards up early, working on repairs. Gaius's chambers were full of the injured, but thanks to Merlin's rapidity at which he asserted his surprise power during the battle, there were relatively few casualties.

Merlin woke up a few hours after his usual wake-up time the next morning, panicking when he realized how late it was.

"Arthur's gonna kill me!" he exclaimed. Then he winced, and the memory of the night before came back to him.

"Where's Arthur? Is he okay? What happened to Morg-"

"Calm down!" Gaius told him, pushing him back onto his bed. "Everyone's fine, Merlin. Morgana escaped, but we won the battle, thanks to you. You were injured. Arthur's given you days off untl you recover."

Merlin raised an eyebrow. "He gave me days off? Was I dying?" he joked.

"Nearly," Gaius said grimly, and Merlin's smile dropped some at the physician's grave face.

"Well, I feel fine now," Merlin insisted, stretching the truth. In fact, there was a slight throb around his midriff, and he felt exhausted. "So why don't you let me..."

He trailed off. If he went about his normal duties, he would run into most of the servants and certainly some of the knights during training. How would they react to him? How could he just go about the castle like nothing had changed and expect everyone to do the same?

He swallowed. "You know, on second thought, I think I'll stay here...for the rest of the week. In fact, I might need a whole month to recover."

Gaius gave a knowing smile. "You can't hide from them forever, Merlin."

Hi ward cringed, but he continued. "Gwaine and Arthur were worried about you. Gwaine's stopped by already this morning, as well as Gwen. They still want to see you, Merlin. In fact, Gwaine made it clear that if anyone gave you trouble, they'd have to answer to him."

The servant looked up, surprise and hope on his features. "Really?"

"Yes, Merlin. But you need to rest still. Then you can go back to work."

Merlin was silent, but the physician could see the cheerfulness practically radiating from him, despite the fact he had been injured, and smiled internally. He knew how much it meant to his ward not to be judged for his gifts.

The servant seemed to remember that he was injured. Wincing slightly, he peeked down his front and saw his torso was heavily bandaged.

"Morgana hit you with a curse," Gaius explained. "Kilgarrah then attacked her, and she was forced to flee."

Merlin nodded, and just at that moment, there was a knock at the door.

"Gaius?" Gwaine's muffled voice came through the door. "Is Merlin awake yet?"

The physician gave Merlin a look that said 'see?' and called "come in!"

The knight entered, and grinned when he saw his friend awake.

"Merlin, mate! How are you?"

The servant smiled hesitantly in return. Gaius could tell that, despite what he'd told him, Merlin would only truly believe his friends would accept him when he saw and heard it for himself.

"Never been better."

The knight gave one of his signature roguish grins. "You gave us a scare, there, Merlin."

"You're not...mad or anything?" Merlin said tentatively.

"Mad? Of course not! You pretty much saved Camelot single-handed!"

Merlin blinked. He'd wished for years for people to just acknowledge that fact. Though this wasn't how he pictured it, it was nice nonetheless. Still, the words made him feel strangely jumpy. He wasn't used to people knowing one of his secrets that put him in danger.

"Don't look so surprised! Everyone knows it's true." Gwaine had apparently noticed the servant's strange expression.

Merlin smiled, but he was still nervous.

"And...what about everyone else?"

Gwaine seemed to understand his apprehension. "I don't know about everyone, but I know that most of the knights know they owe you majorly. As for the servants, I heard a few of them talking this morning - I believe it was Mera and Rosa? - and they were blushing and giggling about the servant who saved Camelot. The council members, I expect some of them will be jumping at the chance to throw you in the dungeons, but thankfully there are at least some sensible nobles who will get some sense into them."

Merlin stared, thinking, but both the physician and the knight could see his tension slowly leaving him. Then suddenly, the servant smiled a full, real, smile that lit up the room, and when he spoke they could hear the sincerity in his voice.

"Thanks, Gwaine."


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I love Merlin, but I most definitely do not own it. **

**Last chapter! You guy have been great :) I hoped you enjoyed this. I know I did. **

For days, all the castle could talk about was Merlin, the servant turned hero. Some of the nobles who had been close to Uther, were lobbying for some form of punishment, but they were ignored by the others who could clearly see that they needed Merlin on their side.

Some of them who still didn't quite trust him said they should leave him be, but mainly because they thought if they tried to have him killed, he would just call his dragon to come along and save him, then possibly sic it on Camelot.

Some of them thought he was dangerous, but that, due to his loyalty to Arthur he wouldn't try to escape.

And some of them just wanted him gone, but were to scared to say anything against him, knowing the king had already consented to leaving him in peace.

The first few days back to work for Merlin were both good and bad. Some people would skirt to the side when they saw him coming, avoiding eye contact. Merlin always felt his heart sink when this happened. He did not want people to fear him.

Sometimes, though, a servant would smile shyly at him in the hall, and he would smile back, hoping the gesture conveyed that they had nothing to be wary of, that he was still the same person. The knights, even the ones he wasn't particularly close to, as Gwaine said, knew they owed their lives as well as Camelot to Merlin, and therefore were friendly towards him as always. Perhaps it was because they, too, had been in the fight, but they seemed to know that Merlin was the type of fighter who was absolutely loyal. To Gwen, he was still her best friend, just a little more...powerful.

He knew it wasn't going to be easy adjusting. But as long as his friends could accept him, he could deal with it.  
So, feeling lighter than he had in a while now that one of the secrets that had been weighing on him was off his chest, he went about his usual duties as Arthur's servant with a nearly ever-present grin on his face.

"You're in a good mood," Arthur noted a few days after the fight as he worked on a speech while Merlin cleaned his chambers.

"Well, yeah," Merlin said. "We won against Morgana, no one's driven me out of Camelot yet, and I no longer have to feel like I'm constantly lying to everyone's face anymore." Well, the last part wasn't true.

"You're cheerful," Arthur said, rolling his eyes.

Merlin shrugged. "It's true."

Arthur looked closely at his servant. Merlin certainly did seem happier since his secret got out. He felt slightly guilty at the fact that he had never noticed before. Despite his constant denials of it, there was an unspoken agreement between the two that they were best friends, brothers in all but blood. Merlin knew him strangely well, had insights into his his problems no one else could give. But apparently, he didn't know his servant as well as his servant knew him.

Feeling awkward, he cleared his throat. Merlin knew practically all his secrets, all his doubts and insecurities. The least Merlin could do was return the favor of trusting him with such secrets.

"Merlin," he said carefully, "is there...anything else you've neglected to tell me?"

The warlock stiffened. He'd been hoping this question wouldn't come up. He'd hoped that in the shock of revealing he was a dragonlord, no one would think to look closer at him. But he should have known Arthur would ask.

He took a deep breath and looked the king in the face. For a moment, he was tempted to do it. Just let all his secrets fall out. No more hiding. Not having to let his happiness at releasing one of his secrets hurt him by having to lie some more.

But as he looked back at Arthur, he could see that his friend meant well, but ...

He couldn't do it. Not today. Neither of them were ready.

"No sire. Nothing."

The king's eyes narrowed. Both of them knew Merlin was lying, they would have even if the telltale use of the word "sire" hadn't given him away.

"Alright," Arthur replied finally. "As long as you're sure."

He looked back down at his speech. Hopefully, some day, Merlin would feel comfortable enough to tell him.


End file.
